6th Global Workshop on Digital Soil Mapping, 11-14 November, 2014, Nanjing, China. The four day conference includes three days of indoor sessions and one day of field excursion on Nov. 13th. The early-bird registration and submission of abstract ends on June 30, 2014, while the regular registration and full-length paper submission ends on Sep. 30, 2014. More details at http://dsm2014.csp.escience.cn The full-length papers will be published in a monograph by Springer after peer review.

SSSA Specialized Conference- Soil's Role in Restoring Ecosystem Services will be held in Sacramento, CA, USA on March 6-9, 2014. Soils provide provisioning and regulating ecosystem services relevant to grand challenge areas of: climate change adaptation and mitigation, food and energy security, water protection, biotechnology for human health, ecological sustainability, and slowing of desertification. The purposes of this conference will be to evaluate knowledge strengths and gaps, encourage cross-disciplinary synergies to accelerate new learning, and prioritize research needs. Professional and research scientists, consultants, natural resource managers, post-doctoral researchers, and graduate students encouraged to attend. www.soils.org/meetings/specialized-conferences/ecosystem-services

SSSA Soil Consulting Scientists 2014 Field Trip-Puerto Rico will be held in Puerto Rico on February 18-21, 2014. The geology, geomorphology and soils of Puerto Rico are incredibly varied for an island that is only 110 miles long and 40 miles wide. Ten soil orders are represented on the island. Rainfall ranges from almost 200 in/yr. in the rainforest to 18 in/yr. in the semi-arid region. On this trip we will travel much of the island to examine pits with some very unique soils. Registration deadline is February 10, 2014. www.soils.org/membership/divisions/consulting-soil-scientists

Biogeochemical Interfaces in Soil – Towards a Comprehensive and Mechanistic Understanding of Soil Functions. 6-8 October 2014, Germany. During pedogenesis, mineral, organic, and biological soil components are "glued" together into a three dimensional, large, and heterogeneous biogeochemical interface (BGI), which properties affects fundamental soil processes and functions. Yet, visualizing and characterizing BGIs architecture, identifying factors controlling their formation and maturation, and examining processes occurring at these interfaces have been challenging so far. Integrating advanced instrumental analytical tools with theoretical models may help to unravel BGIs composition and properties, and ultimately link their processes to functions. Scientists from soil-related reserach intrigued in gaining a mechanistic understanding of the formation and functioning of soils are heartily invited to submit their contributions. www.spp1315.uni-jena.de

XI International Symposium on Enchytraeidae will be held in Georgsmarienhütte near Osnabrück, Germany, July 25-27, 2014. Enchytraeids or 'potworms' are small relatives of earthworms and abundant in soils worldwide. They influence carbon dynamics and nitrogen mineralization and improve soil structure. Species-specific preferences towards factors such as pH and moisture create site-specific species assemblages and make enchytraeids good soil biological indicators. The symposium has a traditional focus on taxonomy and applied soil ecology, but actually it covers all aspects of the biology of enchytraeids, including developmental biology, physiology, phylogeny, and ecotoxicology. More information see: www.ect.de